1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to hand-carried traffic control lights and, more particularly, to a structural improvement in such lights for giving a simple construction to the lights and using the lights as signaling or flashing lights.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A typical hand-carried light, that is used for traffic controlling, military operation controlling, airplane taxiing and safety supervising, has a battery-operated signaling bulb. In order to turn on or turn off the above signaling bulb, the above light is also provided with a switch. In addition, a reflector that reflects the light of the bulb thereby more effectively putting the light from the bulb is preferably installed in a transparent body.
The above hand-carried light has a sufficient visible distance and visual effect particularly at night, interruption of electric power or inclement weather. The hand-carried light can be thus effectively used for signaling or alarming.
The above hand-carried light is further provided with a flashing bulb on its top portion, thus being preferably used for identifying the registered number of a car or mentioned items of a driver's license or searching troubled parts of a car.
Korean U.M. Appln. No. 93-1328 discloses a hand-carried traffic control light provided with signaling and flashing functions. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the construction of the above Korean traffic control light.
As shown in FIG. 4, the light includes a cylindrical handle 1 that defines a battery chamber therein. A switch cap 2 is threaded into the top of the above handle 1. The switch cap 2 has a plurality of switches 3. The switches 3 are provided on the outer wall of the cap 2. Both a circuit board 4 and a tube holder 5 are received in the cap 2. A longitudinal LED carrier 7, that carries a plurality of LEDs 6, is axially fitted in the holder 5 and electrically connected to the circuit board 4. The LEDs 6 are axially arranged on the carrier 7 and spaced out at regular intervals. In order to protect the above LED carrier 7, a longitudinal transparent protection tube 8 is fitted over the carrier 7 and held by the holder 5 on its bottom portion. A fitting ring 9 is mounted on the middle portion of the above protection tube 8. The above protection tube 8 is surrounded by a holding pipe 10 and in turn surrounded by a fluorescent pipe 11. An external pipe 12 is fitted over the above fluorescent pipe 11 to protect the pipe 11. A bulb fitting cap 13 is fitted into the top of the external pipe 12. A flashing bulb 14 is fitted in the above cap 13 with a reflector 15. A tightening cap 17 is tightened to the outer-threaded top edge of the above bulb fitting cap 13 with a circular glass panel 16.
In the operation of the above traffic control light, an LED switch 3 is operated to apply the electric power of the batteries in the handle 1 to the LED carrier 7 through the circuit board 4. The LEDs 6 of the carrier 7 are thus intermittently turned on and turned off. The light of the above LEDs 6 comes through the external pipe 12. Since the fluorescent pipe 11 is fitted in the external pipe 12, the light of the LEDs 6 in the above state is diffusion-reflected by the fluorescent pipe 11. The above diffused reflection of the LED's light caused by the fluorescent pipe 11 improves the visual effect of the LED's light coming through the external pipe 12. The above fluorescent pipe 11 also gives luminous effect to the traffic control light when there is no batteries in the handle 1 at night.
In order to use the above light for either identifying the registered number of a car or mentioned items of a driver's license or searching the troubled parts of a car, a bulb switch 3 is operated to directly apply the electric power of the batteries to the flashing bulb 14 thus turning on the bulb 14. The bulb 14 thus puts its light forward through the glass panel 16. The bulb's light is reflected by the reflector 15. The bulb 14 in the above state is continuously turned on, thereby being used for properly identifying the registered number of a car or the mentioned items of a driver's license or search the troubled parts of a car.
However, the above hand-carried light has the following problems caused by its construction.
In the above light, the LEDs 6 are manually welded to the LED carrier 7 one by one. Each LED 6 is welded to a wire that not only holds the LED 6 but also acts as means for transmitting the electric power. Thus, the LEDs 6 may fail to achieve the positional stability. In order to stably hold and protect the carrier 7 with the above LEDs 6, the transparent protection tube 8 is fitted over the carrier 7. The LED carrier 7 is electrically connected to the circuit board 4 by being welded to the board 4. The above hand-carried light has a complex construction and is difficult to produce and assemble.
In order to stably hold the protection tube 8 with the LED carrier 7 in the fluorescent and external pipes 11 and 12, the protection tube 8 must be provided with the fitting ring 9 that has an outer diameter equal to the inner diameter of the external pipe 12. In addition, both the protection tube 8 and the fluorescent pipe 11 must be held by transparent holding pipe 10.
The light of the LEDs 6 thus comes through the protection tube 8, holding pipe 10, fluorescent pipe 11 and external pipe 12. Therefore, the intensity of illumination of the LEDs 6 is remarkably reduced.
In addition, the film pipe 10, fluorescent pipe 11 and synthetic resin pipe 12 are commonly held by the support ring 9 of the protection tube 8, the pipes 10, 11 and 12 may be easily deformed or broken by external shock or temperature variation.
That is, the above hand-carried light has no means for reinforcing and stably holding the flexible and sensitive external pipe 12. The expected life span of the above light is thus shortened.
In order to install both the bulb 14 and the reflector 15 in the light, a plurality of parts, that is, the bulb fitting cap 13, glass panel 16 and tightening cap 17, must be set in the external pipe 12. However, the above parts complicate both the construction of the light and the process for assembling the light.
The above hand-carried light also includes the tube holder 5 for holding the protection tube 8. In addition, various switches 3 are mounted on the switch cap 2 for selectively turning on the various color LEDs 6 of the carrier 7 and the bulb 14. Due to the above switches 3, the light has a complicated construction and is expensive. Due to the above switches 3, the above light is difficult to assemble.
In an effort to overcome the above problems, particularly caused by the LED carrier 7, the applicant of this invention proposed an improved hand-carried light in Korean U.M. Appln. No. 94-29646 (Japanese U.M. Appln. No. 94-12997; Japanese U.M. Registration No. 3010482).
In the above light, a switch cap is coupled to a handle with a battery chamber. A color reflecting tube is fitted into the top of the switch cap. A switch and a switch connector are provided in the above switch cap, while a longitudinal LED carrier formed of a PCB (printed circuit board) is axially received in the above color reflecting tube. The LED carrier has a plurality of regularly-spaced LEDs. A circuit unit for turning on or off the LEDs is provided on the lower portion of the above LED carrier. The switch connector is electrically connected to an LED connector of the above circuit unit provided in the LED carrier. In the above hand-carried light, both sides of the LED carrier formed of PCB are brought into tight contact with the internal surface of the color reflecting tube, thus structurally reinforcing and stably holding the color reflecting tube. The LEDs are stably installed in the regularly-spaced openings formed on the LED carrier constructed of a PCB, while the circuit unit is provided on the lower portion of the above LED carrier. Due to the above LED carrier, it is not required to provide additional circuit board to the above hand-carried light. The number of parts, the volume and weight of the light are thus reduced, so the above hand-carried light is easily assembled and produced, and effectively used for traffic controlling.
The above hand-carried light overcomes the problems caused by the light disclosed in Korean U.M. Appln. No. 93-1328. However, the above light has no flashing bulbs for putting the light forward, so the light can be used for neither identifying the registered number of a car, mentioned items of a driver's license nor searching the troubled parts of a car at night.
That is, the light disclosed in Korean U.M. Appln. No. 93-1328 includes both the LED carrier and the flashing bulb. The light of LEDs comes through the external pipe when the hand-carried light is used for traffic controlling, while the light of the flashing bulb is put forward when the hand-carried light is used for identifying the registered number of a car or mentioned items of a driver's license or searching the troubled parts of a car. However, the light disclosed in Korean U.M. Appln. No. 94-29646 does not have the flashing bulb for putting the light forward. The above light thus neither identifies the registered number of a car or the mentioned items of a driver's license nor searches the troubled parts of a car at night, while the light can be used for traffic controlling exclusively.